New public search for John this weekend

Local people have been urged to help in a fresh search for John Concannon which has been arranged for this weekend.

The search will take place at the Ballyarnett Country Park on Sunday, December 27th, with people asked to gather for 1.00 p.m.

Michael Concannon, brother of John Concannon.

John Concannon (71) has been missing since November 10th after getting on the wrong bus and alighting on the Lenamore Road.

His family have been ceaselessly searching for him, aided by the PSNI, An Garda, Community Search Teams, neighbours, friends and an army of volunteers from across Derry, Donegal and beyond.

Those who can take part in the new search this Sunday are asked to gather at the road leading into the park off the Muff to Ballyarnett Road.

John Concannon’s brother, Michael,said John’s family were facing a very different Christmas from last year if John is not found.

The last known image of John Concannon before his disappearance.

“It’s a struggle,” he said. “There has been no new leads.

“As you can imagine we are running around helter, skelter and you have to follow all these leads up but really we are getting nowhere.

“There was a woman in Umricam who was convinced she saw him but we checked CCTV from an engineering firm two miles up the road for the week previous right through to nearly two weeks after but we couldn’t find him walking on that road.

“There has been, maybe, a dozen more sightings but it is a similar story. When you go there you look and it’s not him or there’s no proof. We went to Ballybofey and looked at CCTV following a report there but it wasn’t him.

“The Search and Rescue people were out again last week. They’re exhausted, we are exhausted but they are not going to stop. It’s just where do we look next? They went back and covered the same ground again just to be sure and they were talking about taking out dogs and searching again.”

Police in Derry, meanwhile, said they will also be conducting more plannedsearches in a bid to locate missing Derry man, Mr. John Concannon.

He said: “Both the police service and our Gardaí counterparts have been working closely and have carried out searches on land and in local waterways.

“This has been a joint effort, and we are also are very appreciative of the contributions of a civilian community search team that has assisted.

“The information we have at this stage suggests a search area on and close to the border at Lenamore Road and across into Dundreen and Drumadooey.

“We will be renewing the searches and will be using specialist search facilities.”

“In the meantime,” Inspector Hutton said, “our thoughts are with the Concannon family.

“They are going through a lot of uncertainty at a time of year when families like to be together.

“I want to thank everyone who has given information so far. I would encourage anyone who thinks they may have seen Mr Concannon, on either side of the border, to get in touch with their nearest police or Garda station.”